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Tyres Review

10-01-2009, 09:47 AM

Hi all,

Seeing that a few of us here have different tyres on either our stock rims or aftermarket rims, it might be good for us to give a quick review of how your tyre fare against our stock AD07. This will help others when coming to pick another set of tyres.

Comments:
This tyre grips very well on the dry. It could be because of the extra 215 profile (stock's 205), but it does allow me to corner with confidence. However, in wet, its alot worse than my old AD07. Review said AD07's crap in wet.....but AD07 seems as grippy to me as when dry. For road noise, somehow these hankook's louder than my AD07

Overall, i can't complain as its on special for $120 each Very good for the money if you ask me.

Comments: I have had no real hassles with these tyres so far, they are primarily used as my "town" tyres so I don't wear out my Yokohamas so quickly. They tramline a little due to the continuous middle tread section, are probably just as noisy as the Yokos, and they handle pretty well on the blacktop in the dry and wet - I've yet to have them let go on me (without goig too stupid).

The ride on these tyres is obviously quite harsh compared to the stock 16" yokohamas, with plenty of pitching about over road undulations, and some bad moments over some deep pot holes, but get on a nice smooth winding road and they handle great. If you want everyday comfort without sacrificing grip/handling, then I recommend you stick to 16" rims with yokos or something similar (Dunlop Sports?), as they ride much better and absorb most of what the crap Oz roads can dish out.

Comment

Not a bad tyre but nowhere near as good as the advans. i think they go around $170~$190 each. they moan and groan when cornering hard where the yokohamas didn't. They seem to be wearing fine, no complaints.

Comment

Comments:Handling
In the dry they don't handle as well as the AD07's - Probably tend to squirm around a little. In the wet I think they are superior to the AD07's.

Traction
Better than the ADO7's. Maybe as the tyres are a fraction wider (205 vs 215), but the Sumitomo don't wheel spin as much (dry or wet) and don't axle tramp like my AD07's did. Tramlines a little more than the AD07's but only a little more.

Comfort & Noise
More compliant ride and quieter too - not a massive difference but you could pick it up going directly from the AD07's to the Sumitomo.

Wear
Done approx 8,000km on the Sumitomo and they don't look like they've worn at all. The AD07's were approx 30% worn after 8,000km.

Price
Paid $170 a tyre for the Sumitomo but it's hard to directly compare this to the price of a 16inch AD07. The Sumitomo is a 40 profile X 17 inch vs AD07 a 45 profile X 16 inch. But would be much cheaper at the same size.

Overall
If you want a cheaper tyre for your day to day running the Sumitomo is better. More comfortable, quieter, better traction and wear with 8 tenth's of the AD07's handling.

everyone seems to be saying that their alternative tyres are better than the AD07's off the mark in regards to having less wheel spin, but that should probably be expected since they AD07's are designed to maximise cornering speed, they are aimed at the circuit rather than the drag strip after all. They have very hard side walls and anything comparable in this department seems to be hard to find without going to a semi-slick. Hard side walls obviousley dont help much on the drag strip though where you actually want your tyres to compress a little.

I think it will be hard to match the AD07's cornering capabilities. Though the dunlop direzza sport Z1 "star spec" seem pretty good. Similar tread pattern, sidewalls are apparently of a comparable stiffness although treadwear is slightly higher. Being dunlop price is probably lower than the yoko's too. Although they dont seem to be available in aus, or at least not yet, they are not listed on the dunlop aus site... though it could just be out of date.